Art permeates (prehistoric) life at special events

If the past is another country, the prehistoric past must be a different planet.

In their quest to make ancient history breathe, paleontologists often turn to visual art, both as a means of discovering the distant past and as a way to intellectually conceptualize it. Two upcoming series on campus illustrate this phenomenon.

Imagining the Past: a Symposium

On the table is a pile of very ancient bones. How to get beyond the chips and fragments to the creature that once inhabited the dissolute carcass? Drawing upon the services of acclaimed artists, paleontologists, historians, filmmakers, biological evolutionists and a puppeteer, the symposium opens the Department of Geology and Geophysic’s Geology and Art Special Events Series.

According to Joseph Skulan, the assistant faculty associate who is coordinating the series, this first symposium will outline the need that science has for art.

“The symposium is bringing together a mix of people who, in the normal course of things, never would meet,” he says. “I honestly think that events like this can be a source of really good ideas because you break down pretense and look at our field in a fresh way.”

Skulan says that sometimes fields — such as sedimentologist, stratigrapher and paleontologist — are so closely connected that little cross-fertilization takes place, and to observers outside the discipline it all looks alike.

The symposium is free; donations to the Geology Museum are welcome. Activities will take place on Friday-Sunday, Oct. 15-17, at the museum. A reception will open the proceedings Oct. 15 at 4 p.m., followed at about 6 p.m. by a performance of “The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins,” a “toy theater” piece by Caldecott Award-winner Brian Selznick. Painter/paleontologist William Stout will conclude Friday’s activities at 7 p.m. with a discussion of “Envisioning the Past.” The symposium will reconvene Saturday at 9 a.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. For a schedule, visit the Web site.

Christianne Clados: Reconstructing the Pre-Columbian World

In the capable hands of Christianne Clados, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica arises anew. A research associate at the Free University of Berlin, Clados paints “reconstructions” based on archeological finds in Mesoamerica and former Inca lands in South America.

Clados was affiliated with the Department of Anthropology and the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program during 2003-04. This fall she and several faculty will present lectures offering insight into the relationship between anthropology, archeology and art:

• “Reconstructing the Pre-Columbian World,” Christianne Clados, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 5 p.m.
• “Archaeology, Art and Interpretation,” Jonathan Mark Keynoter, director of the Center for South Asian Studies, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m.
• “‘Gold and Silver and Jade, OH MY!’ An Anthropological Perspective on the ‘Treasures’ of Ancient American Civilizations,” Jason Yaeger, assistant professor of anthropology, Thursday, Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.
• “The Immortality of the Flesh: Why Ancient Americans Created Mummies,” Frank Salomon, professor of anthropology, Monday, Oct. 25, 7:30 p.m.

The free lectures will be held at Commonwealth Gallery, 100 S. Baldwin St. in Madison. A free exhibition of Clados’ paintings will be on view through Friday, Oct. 15, at the Latino Arts Institute, 1028 S. Ninth St. in Milwaukee.